September,
2003
"Roundhouse Christians"
Last month, while on vacation, I visited a good friend and her husband. We traveled to Durango, Colorado, a beautiful town in the southwestern part of the state. Durango is the home of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. At the station there is a museum and the Railroad Roundhouse.
I did not have time to ride the train, which I plan to do on my next visit, but I was really most interested in the Roundhouse anyway. It is quite an interesting story that has proved God’s faithfulness to me as I walk through life’s circumstances.
In November of last year, I received a prophetic word form the Lord. It came to me through a trusted friend and a servant of the Lord, whom He uses to encourage many with His word.
She saw a picture of me walking on a train track, stepping onto a roundhouse platform and standing while it turned. When it was done, I was facing a completely different direction.
I was intrigued though unsure what it meant and which area of my life it was referring to. The closing word from God was that He was showing me this so that when “it” happened I would know He was in it.
It became quickly apparent what that word was referring to, because just a few short days later, my husband of thirty years told me he was leaving our marriage and filing for divorce. Oh yes – I certainly did just step onto a roundhouse. You can be sure that I became very interested in finding out what happened in a railroad roundhouse and how God was going to apply it to my life.
As I share some of these insights, I would like for you to just stop now and ask the Lord to show you how this also might apply to your life.
Originally, I had thought that a roundhouse was strictly a switching station, but it is so much more than that. It is the very heart or the hub of the railroad. This is where they do the major maintenance, servicing, repair and reconstruction of the locomotive engines.
A roundhouse contains a series of stalls that hold the locomotives. It is built in an arc around a central turntable – a bridge that is rotated until the tracks line up with the intended new track direction or stall designated for its tune-up. When it is properly aligned the turntable is locked into place. Then the engine is moved to its compartment for servicing or back out onto the tracks ready for use.
I found it quite interesting that the turntable pivots on one spot – one focal point. And it is so well-balanced, that when it is operating properly, one man can rotate the whole locomotive.
The turntable in Durango, however, was described by the museum guide as having “a mind of its own.” It had a “recalcitrant pneumatic valve” that despite four attempts to repair it, nothing was ever found wrong with it. When it wasn’t working, in order to move it, instead of just one man pushing the turntable around, it took a chain and a tractor to move it.
We all know that the engine is what pulls the train. It has all the power. But it is never in control of itself – the engineer is the one driving the train; the roundhouse workers are the ones who move the engine at will, where they want it to go.
This analogy seemed to fit not only my own current circumstances, but also painted a picture of out entire lives as Christians in the Kingdom of God.
God desires us to be on His track. He is the one who needs to be in control as the engineer of our lives. He is to be the one focal point that our lives pivot around. When He chooses, we are taken to the roundhouse, put on the turntable and steered to the right maintenance compartment – custom equipped with the technicians He chooses, using the tools He selects, to do the “tune up” He knows is necessary.
When we are “recalcitrant” and exhibit “a mind of our own” instead of the mind of Christ, He sometimes has to get out the chains and tractor to move us into position.
Why does God do all of this? To punish us? No – it is because He wants us in top running condition. He knows we need ongoing maintenance to stay finely tuned, full of power, and redirected towards His plans and purposes for our lives.
When we are finished with our trip to God’s “Roundhouse,” we are vessels or vehicles of His glory (2 Timothy 2:20-22) - clean, shining, filled with new oil, greased to run on the tracks of life smoothly. New power and purpose fills our inner parts and we have His strength to pull the cars full of people and cargo that He attaches to us.
I can certainly attest to the fact that this process is scary and yet comforting all at the same time.
Scary when my fleshly nature tends to get fearful of what might happen. Then a cycle starts and I begin to feel like a failure or like I am being punished. And because I don’t always trust God’s love and His ways, I become double-minded and fear the outcome.
But to the “real me” that is making faith choices to follow God, it truly is a comforting place to be – because I am out of control. And I really do know that God is in control despite the fact the circumstances “seem” to be out of control. It is so peaceful and freeing when I just say, “Yes” to Him. And that is all I need to do – yield to Him. I do not want to be on that recalcitrant turntable needing a chain and tractor to pull me into God’s will. I want to balance my whole life on Him and His will – as the central focal point of my walk with Him.
When I choose to do this in spite of my feelings and circumstances and other people, I can release the striving and the mind set of the “Little Engine That Could.” We all remember that children’s story and it does have some great truths in it – but I know my lesson at this place in my life is to stop striving. I need to stop saying “I think I can. I think I can. I must do this. I have to do that in order to get it right. If only I could try harder, be smarter, do it better, be more spiritual…”
What God wants me to say right now is, “I can’t do any of this on my own. Lord, will you do what is necessary? I yield to You.”
As I am settling into a place of deep abiding rest and trust, I am beginning to look forward to the completion of my tune-up and polishing job. And I am getting excited to see which track and direction He chooses for me.
Will you join me in becoming a Roundhouse Christian, too? Will you say, “Yes” to the Lord? Are you willing to take that trip into God’s Roundhouse and let Him tune and polish and empower you? Are there areas of your life that need to be realigned?
I can hear us all chugging away – let the glory train roll!
L.O.V.E.,
Patty
Below (or go to link http://www.crrm.org/round_house.htm) is a great photo of the turntable in a roundhouse at a museum in Colorado. This one has five stalls. On the left you can see the lever-arm that one man can use to move the locomotive with. The turntable pivots around the round pit while balancing on the fulcrum point until it is properly aligned with the correct track or stall.
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